It shouldn’t come as a surprise that The Last Of Us came out on top of last week’s WeView poll. The game scored very highly amoung critics, with it storming to the top of the UK sales charts in June and holding the top spot for the following six weeks.
The Last Of Us emotionally moved me in a way very few games have. Without revealing too much the opening level, even after only a handful of minutes with the game, left me heartbroken and shedding tears. The Last Of Us was a heart wrenching experience from start to finish – Naughty Dog created a masterpiece in my eyes.
Alex reviewed The Last Of Us for TSA, and scored the game a 10/10. He described the visuals as “some of the best this generation of consoles has ever produced”. Alex was also quick to praise Gustavo Santaolalla’s accompanying soundtrack saying “it fits the game so well it’s hard to imagine it without it.”
His conclusion, albeit quite a lengthy one, perfectly describes The Last Of Us for me:
“Joel and Ellie’s story is a sprawling, often desperate struggle for survival against insurmountable odds and a series of increasing bad rolls of the dice, and it’s expertly told.
But there are moments of beauty in the tale, both physically and emotionally, between a mismatched duo that end up relying on each other far more than either thought they might. The bright moments are overwhelmingly powerfully so, the innocent ignorance of Ellie’s upbringing slotting perfectly between Joel’s dark, barbed decades of his own private hell, and those they meet on the way.
There’s one fleeting, momentary respite near the end of the tale as Ellie stares out onto a rich green field, Joel at her side. It’s quiet, poignant, delicate and shows an element of nature untouched by the disasters around it. A reminder that not all is bad, not all is lost, and, after everything that’s happened, it’s hard to fight back the tears. These things you can’t help but carry with you long after it’s all over, and few other games can have that kind of hook, that kind of reaction.
The Last Of Us does. Several times. Just be ready.”
Now it’s over to you – pop down your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to give The Last Of Us either a Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It rating. I’m expecting a large response for this week’s WeView so make sure to comment by Sunday evening if you want to be included in Monday’s verdict article.
Youles
This is the first time in a while I enjoyed the multiplayer of a game – balancing was good for the most apart (excluding melee and Molotov’s). I also liked that there was no solo game modes, which perhaps forced people to work together. The survivor system for progressing/levelling-up also was a nice change to the usual Prestige nonsense, although the fact you could lose all our progress on the Mission tasks was slightly worrying. The lack of ammo also meant the MP wasn’t too frantic or shootie, it kept a “survivor” feel to it, with the crafting also a good solution to everyone starting with a default x1 Grenade, x1 Health Pack etc. and meant what you constructed was more in your control, albeit dependent on what you scavenged.
The single player was amazing – rarely does a game deliver such quality on all levels: gameplay; story; visuals; voice acting; level design; equipment/weapons; humour. However, having played it through 3 times, I can pin point a few niggles – some awkward/annoying checkpoints, and some of the locations were a bit samey, but areas like the sewers were brilliant.
Buy it.
PARKER94!
Beautiful landscapes and scenery, but that was about it for me, I enjoyed the first half the game ( I assume half? never got to finish it) but then it began to drag on for me and i lost interest. Alot of, help Ellie cross this bla bla, became tedious, and (maybe over critical) when Ellie is catching up with you and she runs infront of every guard and enemy and she is ignored, broke the immersion alot for me, and i feel as though, if she died, i would be glad.
On a more positive note, it has one of the best opening chapters i have ever played!
Devinately not an Avoid it, but if i had the option to go back and save £40, I would. Which i suppose leaves me at a RENT IT/BARGAIN BIN it
wonkey-willy
rent it!
basically a ten hour interactive movie..
starts slow but eventually gains steam..
but then it just gets a bit predictable..
cmon how many times when you get to water do you have to get a crate for Ellie to use..
the best thing with this is the relationship between Ellie and Joel.
really believable and played out excellently..
personally i cant see the main attraction.
its good but not really genre breaking..
*runs for cover behind settee waiting for torrent of abuse*
Forrest_01
Don’t worry – I’ll protect you.
I thought it was a boring piece of crap.
If you are like me (which i highly doubt many people are!), Avoid it.
rosswilson17
In my opinion The Best Game I Have Ever Played.
Buy It!
Eldave0
Like Bioshock Infinite, a solid storyline but lacking in gameplay. Every PlayStation owner should play it as its certainly unique, but I personally didn’t find it as groundbreaking as people were suggesting it was. RENT
three_leg_jake
A top notch game, very enjoyable but does become a little predictable in places. The opening chapter is superb and the inter-character relationships are very well written and that is what makes a great story. Maybe they could’ve lost or changed a couple of chapters in the middle where it became a bit samey? (We need to get here to meet these people, oh no, they aren’t here let’s go there to meet them etc.)
I got my money’s worth for certain as I borrowed it (therefore only played the single player) and gave a big tub of Cadbury’s Heroes in return but I still say buy it!
Scythegpd
Beautiful, haunting, atmospheric, touching, suspenseful, captivating … I’d need a thesaurus to cover the full gamut of adjectives this game deserves!
Gameplay isn’t for everyone (I personally love survival games) but the story is second to none. And one of the most gutwrenching “I am cry” moments in modern gaming.
A masterpiece, it you haven’t already bought it shame on you, give me 10 Hail NaughtyDogs then go out and buy it immediately … now … I mean NOW … what are you still reading this for???
bunimomike
Spot on, fella. The list of superlatives just keeps on going and Naughty Dog has something to be truly proud of even beyond the likes of Uncharted (which is high praise indeed).
Buy It. Make sure you like this sort of game and Buy It.
3shirts
Buy it immediately.
The story is, hands down, the best of any game I’ve played. The way the characters grow together and go through everything is beautifully paced and the careful scene setting lets you really feel the panic and tragedy that befell the people who are long since gone.
Little details like half filled suitcases and teddies laying in the road show the panic and terror that their owners must have felt and the make-shift bases with their living areas and the goal on the wall really create a powerful environment without ramming it down your throat. That subtlety is the genius of The Last Of Us.
The graphics are mind blowing. The lush greenery slowly reclaiming the abandoned cities is impressive and THAT scene with the unusual animals (trying to avoid spoilers) made me literally gasp!
I found the gameplay fantastic too. I played on Hard (and then survivor) and you really feel that every bullet and shank is precious. I was scavenging all the time, sneaking to avoid enemies and really felt in danger the whole time.
I honestly believe this is the best single player experience of this gen and up there with the best of all time.
Multiplayer is similarly enjoyable with a sense of pulling together and struggling to survive. The mature nature of the game (by which I mean emotional maturity rather than just tits and blood) seemed to put off the screeching teenagers so it was fun to play with intelligent people!
But it’s the story that makes this game and everyone should experience it.
double-o-dave
The relationship between Joel and Ellie is one of the main reasons as to why this game is great. It actually reminds me a little of the Monkey and Trip dilemma in Enslaved. Unfortunately I never got to see how that panned out as I got stuck on some timer/surf boarder chase type thing.
Anyway, for todays WeView answer, rearrange the following 2 words into a suitable sentence… ‘It’ and ‘Buy’.
rick_x
Buy it! Only downside is the inexplicable choice to have multiple regional versions within Europe. TLOU is one of the rare games to have Greek subs and annoyingly they are only available on one disc variant available in Greece. I normally give my games to my Greek father in law after I play them but I can’t with this one and they charge 70 euros to buy it in Greece!! Surely the beauty of Blu-ray is that we could have one international version (censorship be damned)!